Masuk Free Press

Often uttered are the sentences: “Reality TV is so trashy.” “You know it’s all edited, right?” “It just seems stupid.”

And you know what? That is completely right. It is stupid and it is edited and it is trashy. That is the point of overglorified gameshows.

In light of the latest season of The Bachelorette ending last Tuesday, I have given thought to my addiction to the somewhat controversial franchise. Every time that I bring up The Bachelor or one of its many spin offs in the company of someone who does not partake in the recreational watching of reality television, I am met with the above criticism.

There are several things wrong with this. The first of which is that it goes against the tried and true lesson that many of us learned in elementary school: if you do not have something nice to say, then simply do not say anything. Criticizing my taste in shows does not somehow make the ones you watch better. It just makes you rude.

There is something else that these haters do not understand: reality TV, for me, fills the same niche that football and sports do for other people. 

Families gather around on whatever day of the week that sports are streamed, and watch a game together. Beloved teams are passed down from parents to children. Merchandise is bought for these teams; sweatshirts, hats, backpacks and t-shirts all devoted to a select group of athletes. 

In the same way that a lot of families care about sports teams, my family partakes in the watching of The Bachelor. We sit down on Monday nights and get ready to yell at ridiculous people who make poor choices. Guesses are made as to who will go the furthest. Arguments are had with a screen.

When it comes down to it, these are essentially the same things. Both genres depict a competition where there are certain contestants or players that you root for. We all want to see our favorites win. We are all people who care deeply about something that essentially means nothing to those outside of our specific communities, and means even less in the grand scheme of things. Yet despite the obvious similarities, you receive far more public disapproval for tuning into reality television than for obsessing over a hockey game.

Someone who likes sports might feel immensely offended that I am equating their darling athleticisms to Bachelor in Paradise. However, from the perspective of someone who is deeply uninvolved sports, they are the same thing. They both fill the same niche in content consumption. Each of these things is just a way to be a nerd about something.

All of this, though, means nothing to society at large. Far more respect is placed upon sports watchers than there is upon reality TV watchers. I am not saying that we need to start giving Oscars to Real Housewives or that Jesse Palmer should have an award for his impeccable hosting skills on The Bachelor. But I do think that there needs to be some self-awareness for how we treat reality TV.

Sports are hailed as an important part of our culture. They represent the dreams of children watching from the sidelines. That maybe one day, if they sacrifice enough blood, sweat and tears, they, too, can see themselves on a screen under bright lights.

This is seen as a realistic hope to have. Little Timmy might actually one day be a part of the Buffalo Bills that he holds so close to his heart! In actuality, only 1.5 percent of Draft Eligible players are selected for the NFL, according to Ohio State University’s website. And that slim percentage is after weeding out the hundreds of thousands of people who do not make it into a sport past high school.

This is not to say that your chances are far better on any of the dating shows that exist. Although there is no public database for how many people apply to be on The Bachelor, ABC announced that 10,000 people submitted their names for the show since the news dropped of the next Bachelor’s identity. Even taking your odds out of this small fraction does not yield to positive results: at this rate you would only have a .3 percent chance of making it.

These unfortunate probabilities serve to further strengthen the parallels between reality TV and sports: they are both an unlikely fantasy.It takes a lot to change someone’s tune once they are already singing it. Will I change minds with this article? Will dedicated sports fans put their petty grievances aside and accept the fact that sometimes it really is not that serious? I hope so. I would love to live in a world where there is harmony between all watchers of television. Where no one is attacked for watching a certain genre of show. But I must say, the odds of that happening are about as good as my odds of making it onto The Bachelor.